UCONN MEN: Huskies remain optimistic despite no postseason

Connecticut's Ryan Boatright celebrates with students after an NCAA college basketball game win against Syracuse in Hartford, Conn., Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2013. Connecticut won 66-58. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

With his UConn men's basketball team barred from postseason play, UConn coach Kevin Ollie has largely focused on intangible goals for his team. Things like playing for pride, playing for the university, playing for the fans and, perhaps most importantly, playing for each other.

Ollie has tossed around dozens of catchphrases and slogans throughout the season -- things like "all 10 toes in" and "we're taking the stairs, escalators are for cowards" -- to further his message. And while such talk might smack of clichés coming from someone else, with Ollie's intense honesty, they fall nothing short of sincere.

The first-year head coach was at it again on Wednesday night, following the Huskies' emotional, 66-58 win over Syracuse.

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"We're just playing basketball," he said. "I think (we're) one of the purest teams that's playing right now. It is the purest team because we're not playing for a postseason. We're playing for the love of UConn, for the love of each other, we're playing for pride and getting better. They can't ban us from that. They can ban us from the postseason, they can ban us from the Big East tournament. But they can't ban us from loving each other. That's one thing I can say about this team: they really love each other. And it shows."

Still, there is a tangible goal that UConn can reach, one that seemed pie-in-the-sky back in November and just as unlikely as little as a week ago. The Huskies are still very much in play for the program's 11th Big East regular season title and first since 2006.

At 7-4 in the Big East, UConn is just a game behind the conference's current leaders -- Syracuse, Georgetown and Marquette, all of whom are 8-3. Entering Thursday night's action, the Huskies were one of four teams sitting a game back in the loss column, as it were, along with Pittsburgh and Notre Dame (both 8-4) and Louisville (7-4 entering Thursday's home bout with St. John's).

In fact, no less than nine teams were within two games of each other in the standings entering Thursday's action (and that's not even including 6-6 Villanova, which faces the Huskies Saturday at the XL Center).

While winning a Big East regular season title isn't as sexy as winning the conference tournament or, certainly, making a deep run into the NCAA tournament, it's all the Huskies have got this year.

And make no mistake, they want it.

"It would mean everything," said sophomore guard Ryan Boatright, "considering they tried to take everything from us."

It's not out of the realm of possibility. UConn's remaining schedule is hardly a world-beater. Three of the Huskies' final seven games are against teams at or near the bottom of the league standings -- DePaul (1-10) and South Florida (1-11) on the road and Providence (5-7) at home.

The Huskies face 7-5 Cincinnati twice, as well as Villanova and Georgetown. Three of those four games come at home, where UConn is 4-1 in league play and 11-1 overall this season.

"I feel like we really should be in first or tied for second (right now)," Boatright said. "We let two or three games slip that we should have won. That comes with the growing pains ... I feel like the only game that we really lost was the Louisville game."

There are too many other teams in the mix to start picking through opponents' schedules, but know this: if UConn ties with one, two, three or however many other teams atop the standings, it is acknowledged as regular-season champion. A tie-breaker formula is used to determine the top seeds for the conference tournament, but not for the regulars-season title. Look no further than this past football season, where four teams tied for the regular-season crown.

In fact, of UConn's 10 regular-season titles, it has shared the title four times, including its three most recent ones (2006, 2005 and 2003).

With all the parity in the Big East this season, it would hardly be a shock if the regular-season champ finished at 13-5, or even 12-6. Can the Huskies win five or six of their final seven games?

"It's realistic, because anybody can lose in the Big East," said Boatright. "We feel like we're supposed to be here. We've shocked a lot of people."